AN outreach centre has appealed to the girl or woman who gave birth to a foetus to urgently seek help.

While gardai continued their search on the third day after the foetus was discovered in Co Donegal, women's aid worker Roisin Kavanagh said: "I cannot emphasise how much the person needs help.

"It is vital that she make contact or that someone who knows what happened makes contact on her behalf.

"She will be treated with the greatest sympathy and absolute confidence."

Ms Kavanagh, chairperson of the only women's outreach group in Co Donegal, the Letterkenny Women's Centre, said they had an experienced counsellor in Killybegs.

This is close to where the foetus, which was aged between 12 and 16 weeks, was found by diplomat's wife Sheila McCann in Brenter, Dunkineely, on Tuesday.

Gardai said yesterday they were continuing their search and hoped that the girl or woman would make contact with them, the HSE or the Women's Centre.

The voluntary centre, with outreach services funded by the HSE, is in contact with a number of non-judgmental organisations.

Ms Kavanagh said: "Nobody knows the circumstances that poor person went through. She might not even have known she was pregnant but she obviously went through labour and delivered a foetus. It was a miscarriage but we don't know what her state of mind was at the time or now."

Ms McCann, who is based with her husband on Irish diplomatic business in Vietnam, found the foetus on a gravel driveway leading to a holiday cottage she owns beside her own home at Brenter.